Tamper-switch.



L. A. GRIMES.

TAMPER SWITCH.

APPLICATION HLED MAY21'. 191s Patented July 3, 1917.

{Mill/[111% WITNESSES um IN LEf/ TOR LAd/"wrzw A TTORNEYS LESTER A. GRIMES, F ORANGE, NEW JERSEY.

TAMPER-SWITCH.

' Original application filed July 8, 1915, Serial No. 38,795.

Serial No.

' of Orange, in'the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and Improved Tamper-Switch, of which the fol lowing is a full, clear, and exact descrip- I tion.

This invention relates to alarm circuits and has been designed particularly as a feature of the automatic alarm for sprinklersystems shown and claimed in my co-pending application, Serial No. 38,795, filed July 8, 1915, and allowed April 6, 1916, of whlch this application is a division.

The main purpose of this invention is to provide electrical means whereby when a normaily fixed or closed cover or the like is moved or opened, this fact will be indicated at some distant point as, for example, in the oflice of the superintendent of the works or some other place, means being provided, however, to stop the sounding of the I alarm by any person authorized to initiate the sounding thereof by the opening or moving of the parts. As applied to the system above referred to, however, the invention comprehends the provision of a switch held normally closed by the cover of the casing of the alarm device, but when the cover is opened either for inspection, repair, examination or the like by any one in authority, or when opened by any one not in authority surreptitiously, the normally closed alarm circuit will be broken and the alarm will be caused to ring. Adjacent the switch is arranged a movable dog or lever through which the operator may again close the circuit to stop the sounding of the alarm, but the dog or lever will be automatically tripped when the cover of the cas ng 1s again closed, so as to permlt the closlng of the circuit through the main contact springs.

With the foregoing and other objects in view the invention consists in the arrangement and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed, and while the invention is not restricted to the exact details of construction disclosed or suggested here- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 3, 1917.

Divided and this application filbd May 27, 1916. 100,203.

in, still for the purpose of illustrating a practical embodiment thereof reference "is had to the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same parts in the several views, and in which Figure l is a partial sectional view of the casing and indicating in side elevation the automatic switch devices in cooperation with a lug carried by the cover of the casing;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section on the line 22 of Fig. 1 indicating the switch devices in plan;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the switch devices at a slightly different angle from the view of Fig. l, but indicating the cover removed and the switch parts in the position they occupy when set manually to close the circuit; and

Fig. 4 is a diagram indicating one preferred arrangement of the switch devices in the alarm circuit.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, I indicate at 10 a stationary member and at 11 a relatively movable member having a lug or projection 12 projecting therefrom toward the stationary member. The members 10 and 11 in the system above referred to constitute the base and re movable cover respectively of the casing containing the automatic switch devices, but it is obvious that I do not intend to be limited unnecessarily in this present disclosure to any particular application of the improvement.

At 13 is indicated a post secured upon the base 10 and supported thereon, but insulated from the same and from each other, are a pair of main or primary contact springs 14 and 15, to which the wires 16 and 17 are connected respectively. These wires lead from a battery 18 or other source of electrical energy, adapted'under certain conditions to sound an audible alarm indicated diagrammatically at 19, and at 20 is i 5 ratedand the connection between the wires l6 and 17 is thus broken, the relay 20 be-- comes dead and the armature 21 drops to complete the circuit through the w1res 23 and 24 and the audible alarm, causing the sounding of the same from the battery 18.

As soon,'however, as the connection is reestablished between the wires 16 and 17, the relay is again energized and thus the armature is lifted from the contact point 22, cutting out the audible alarm. v The contact spring 15 has inherent resiliency, tending to hold it spaced from the spring 14, but when the member 11 is in closed position or adjacent the base 10, the projection 12 carried by the member 11 de presses the spring 15, causing it to engage the spring 14. The relation of the member 12 to the upper surface of the contact spring 15 is indicated in brokenline in Fig. 2;

While the automatic separation of the contact springs 14 and 15 takes place promptly upon the separation of the members 10 and 11, if such separation is done authoritatively and it is not desired to continue the sounding of the audible alarm for any continued length of time, I provide means whereby the operator may manually so make connection between the line wires 16 and 17 as to discontinue the sounding of the alarm by means which will automatically change position when the member 11 is again restored to its normal position, reestablishing the connection between the. primary contact springs 14 and 15. To accomplish this purpose, I provide a dog 25 in the nature of a, lever pivoted at 26 upon'a metallic bracket 27 secured upon the post 13, thereby making electrical connection between the contact spring 14 and an auxiliary spring 14. When the outer or free end of the dog 25 is lifted by the operator, the heel 28 of the dog forces the free end of the spring 14 downwardly out of normal position, and a shoulder 29 at the upper side of the dog comes into-interlocking engagement with ahook-shaped auxiliary spring 15 and thereby the dog is held in its lifted position and being of metal, establishes a communication between the wires 16 and 17. As the spring 15' is in effect a part of the main contact spring 15, so spring 14', through the bracket. 27, is in electrical connection with spring 14.- Hence when in-the position of Fig. 3 the lever 25 connects the two contacts to which the wires 16 and 17 are I connected. The outer free end of the dog,

however,'in the lifted position lies in the path of the projection 12, so that when the member 11 is again returned to its normal position, the first effect of the projection 12 is to throw the dog 25 downwardly, break= ing the connection between'the line wires 16 and 17 so far as the auxiliary springs 14 and 15 are concerned, and substantially simultaneously restablishing connection between the main contacts 14 and 15.

I claim! 1. In a tamper switch device, the combination of a base, a pair of contact springs carried by the base, a member movable with respect to the base and serving normally to hold one contact spring against the other, but permitting the springs to automatically separate when the movable member is moved from normal position, and manually con-' trolled means to electrically connect the two springs and hold them in such condition until the relatively movable member is returned to normal position, said movable member when returning to normal position acting to break the'connection through the manually controlled means.

2. The combination with a casing having 1 a movable cover normally closed, of a pair of contact springs within the casing, means carried by the cover to hold the contact springs normally in contact making a normally closed circuit, said springs, however, serving to automatically separate when the cover is opened, andmanually controlled means to again close the circuit while the casing is open and the springs are sepsrated, said manually controlled means being engaged and actuated-by said means carried by the cover and thereby automatically returned to idle position when the cover is again closed to reestablish connection between the main cgntact springs.

8. The combination with a casing having a movable cover, of a pair of main contact springs held normally in contact by said cover, an auxiliary contact spring electrically connected with each main spring but normally spaced from each other, the main contact springs automatically. separating when the cover is opened, a pivoted lever acting between said auxiliary springs and movable manually after the cover is opened and the" main springs are separated toelectrically connect the auxiliary springs, and means actuated on closing the casing to break the connection between: the auxiliary springs. v p i 4. In a tamper switch of the character set forth, the combination of a pairof circuit wires, a pair of main contact springs con nected. to the respective wires and tending to separate by inherent resiliency, a member serving to connect the springsandthus electrically connect the Wires, a pair of auX-ilually controlled member, however being eniary springs electrically associated with the gagecl by said member serving to connect the respective main springs and normally spaced main springs and thereby automatically 0 from each other, and a manually controlled movable to disconnect the auxiliary springs membes serving to electrically connect the when the main springs are again connected.

auxiliary springs and the two Wires when the main springs are separated, said man- I LESTER A. GRIMES. 

